In the poll - which surveyed 1,002 U.S. adults - 37% of respondents said they approved of the way Trump has handled his job as president. This is the lowest share recorded in his second term, though it's higher than his all-time low of 34%, registered at the end of his first term.

The president gets low marks for his handling of the scandal. But polls suggest other issues are driving the popularity dip.

The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) will lose about 3,900 employees under Donald Trump's sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce — at the same time as the president prioritises plans for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.